St. Catharines high school teacher arrested on sex charges
ST. CATHARINES — A teacher from Denis Morris Catholic Secondary School faces sex-related charges after allegedly sharing sexually explicit material through social media with a group of students.
On Tuesday, the Niagara Regional Police began investigating allegations the 41-year-old female teacher had shared explicit material with students aged 16 and 17.
The NRP said members of the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, Technological Crimes Unit (TCU) and school resource officers have been investigating the allegations.
On Thursday, Stephanie Colangelo, a Port Colborne resident, was arrested.
She is charged with: One count of making available sexually explicit material to a person under the age of 18; one count of luring a child in order to commit sexual exploitation; and one count of luring a child to make child pornography.
Colangelo is currently being held in custody pending a bail hearing on Friday at the Robert S.K. Welch Courthouse in St. Catharines.
The Niagara Catholic District School Board became aware of the allegations Monday, said education director John Crocco, in an interview with The Standard earlier this week, and began investigating. The teacher was
removed from the school Monday afternoon and police were notified.
There have been numerous posts on social media websites regarding the issue, adding to the allegations against Colangelo.
“We've been made aware of a situation involving a staff member at Denis Morris who allegedly engaged in inappropriate online messaging with students,” Crocco said Tuesday.
“When this information was brought forth to us, we responded swiftly with support at the school level, and the teacher was removed from the school when it was brought to our attention.”
Colangelo is listed as a business teacher at Denis Morris on the website ratemyteachers.com where she has a 3.5-star rating based on two 2016 reviews. One student reviewer indicates Colangelo also taught religion classes.
The NRP’s ICE Unit is asking that anyone with information relating to this investigation contact Det. Const. Mike Pataran at nrpsice@niagarapolice.ca.
Members of the E-Crimes Unit are aware that there is material related to the investigation circulating amongst members of the public. The Niagara Regional Police Service would like to remind members of the public, that under Section 162.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada, it is against the law to distribute intimate images/videos of any person without the consent of the person depicted in the image/video.
Members of the public can report suspicious internet activities relating to child exploitation to the Niagara Regional Police Service, or online at www.cybertip.ca. Internet safety tips for parents, children and Internet users are also available on the Cybertip website.